LB100 LAW FIRMS The firms that appear in the Legal Business 100 (LB100) are the top 100 law firms in the UK (usually LLP partnerships but also some alternative business structures), ranked by gross fee income generated over the financial year 2022/23 – usually 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2023. We call these the …
‘AI is the bandwagon of the day. The last six months or so have seen an explosion of law firms talking about the impact of AI, but not really working out whether it is even a good or bad thing.’ John Banister, Wiggin From AI to economic headwinds to flexible working patterns, leaders at Legal …
Clifford Chance began last week by revealing that it had acquired two new partners, Craig Nethercott and Chirag Sanghrajka, to its global energy and infrastructure practice in both London and Dubai respectively. Nethercott joins from Latham & Watkins, where he spent nearly 14 years as a partner, before which he spent seven years as a …
‘There is a real mismatch in how gloomy the economy feels and how busy the legal professional feels,’ observes Deborah Finkler, Slaughter and May’s managing partner. ‘We’re incredibly busy and it wouldn’t surprise me that in the similar conversations you’re having with other managing partners, they will say the same. There is just a lot …
If you only read the stats, you would be forgiven for thinking that the LB100’s 26-50 group has struggled this year. The numbers are uncharacteristically grim for the second quartile: profit per lawyer (PPL) dipped 8% from £79,000 to £73,000 and profit per equity partner (PEP) dropped 3% to £633,000. Revenue metrics are more favourable …
For the 23 City and boutique firms that fall into the second 50 in this year’s LB100, average turnover is up 11% to £53.4m, marking the largest growth across all groups. ‘A couple of years ago people were saying it was the death of the mid-market. We don’t buy that. We think that the mid-market …
Continue reading “LB100: The second 50: City and Boutique – Living for the city”
The 27 regional and national firms occupying the 51-100 spots in this year’s LB100 come in with an average of 267 lawyers and 27 equity partners. But despite weathering Covid well, with average revenue increases of 11% and 13% in 2020 and 2021 respectively, our 2022 report sees growth flatten out, with average revenue up …
Continue reading “LB100: The second 50: Regional view – Steadying the ship”
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‘Thirty years ago, the legal press didn’t exist,’ says Pinsent Masons managing partner John Cleland. ‘Deals were sometimes reported and occasionally they would find their way into the newspaper – but very rarely would the law firm’s name be mentioned. Now firms and the legal press have a very active dialogue on things, ranging from …
Continue reading “30 years of LB100 – 1992-2002: Teen spirit”
More so than the decades which came before or followed, the years between 2002 and 2012 are defined as a stark binary between boom and bust for LB100 firms. For many current law firm leaders who practiced throughout that decade (some of whom had just started their careers), the early 2000s was an intrepid time characterised by …
Continue reading “30 years of LB100 – 2002-12: A decade of two halves”
